They sincerely thought they could leave the Russians with space monopoly and get away with it? How reality-based of them. I predict the Soyuz program will suddenly get rid of their problems after a few goodwill “donations” from the US and Japan, finantial or otherwise.

After Boeing’s experience with Russian aircraft design I would have imagined that our space plans would have been very different. BA had to basically throw out their Russian bureau’s entire portion of the new 747-8 and start afresh onshore, adding almost 6 month to the design cycle.

Then again, given the administration’s overall attitude concerning Boeing I am not surprised they opted to ignore their experience.